Subscribe and click the bell icon to be reminded whenever I post a video! ALL SOCIAL AND AFFILIATE LINKS AT: johnnykyunghwo.com Contact: johnny.kyunghwo@gmail.com Shot on iPhone 13 Pro Max
I think if you rinsed your skimmer with running water between each time you scoop out the big flakes, it will reduce the likelihood the smaller crystals will form. Your salt solution is super-saturated, so after you skim off the big crystals, your skimmer is then essentially covered in microscopic crystals. So by reintroducing the "contaminated" skimmer, you're unintentionally seeding the solution and creating those little clusters. It's sorta like when you're cooking sugar syrup to make hard candy. You have to wash down the sides of the pan with clear water now and then so the splatters don't crystalize and seed the cooking sugar.
Building on this, look at the way he was agitating the solution when making that salt. Hopper crystals/pyramid salt require boyancy to work. With those waves he was making, they probably sunk, agglomerated or got filled in Crystal formation requires the cleanest of setups
Everyone saying "Just buy salt" did you watch the video? He literally has so much coarse sea salt and he's trying to turn it into flaky salt to use in food. The man does food experiments regularly, this isn't new.
@@MedievalSolutionsI dunno about cheaper tbh, cos he has to use a decent amount of electricity or gas to heat the water enough to evaporate it off, and fuel is expensive af right now. The commercial salt manufacturers have the benefit of economics of scale, which he is lacking. Still, its an educational experiment, and all knowledge is good knowledge.
Small crystals result from fast crystallisation. Big crystals also need a starter or core called “Nuclei” which can be existing salt crystals as well es dust particles etc.
Well said! I was about to say, I'd recommend placing a few chunky salt chunks to float atop. Even if they dissolve at the surface, it's still worth a try to let them be the nuclei for the bigger desired crystals. Either that, or wait longer for the crysals to form before fishing them out. Maybe lower the temp so they form slower?
Honestly, I think this is a really cool process that I never would have considered before. Thank you for sharing ALL of the awesome experiments and delicious things you do!
You wouldn’t consider it because it makes no sense to do. With how much labor and electricity needed to do this you’re better off buying salt, even if you already have a shit load.
For anyone who doesn't understand "why he didnt just grind it" Flakey, coarse, and fine salt have different textures. He has coarse salt, which are whole potatoes, he wants flakey salt, which are like chips, thin but large. If he crushed it up, they would be chopped potatoes smallbyt still dense. Hope that analogy works.
The method I’ve seen multiple times is you dissolve as much salt into water then put it in a shallow dish and leave it in a sunny place for several days. Then you break it up when it’s dry
It got to hot and also crystals tend to need a starter or base. I'd sprinkle some fine salt in as your waiting on it to crystalize. The disolved salt will attach to the salt grains and grow crystals
By adding a seed crystal you are basically reversing the dissolving and creating even larger crystals he began with. Very little salt will crystallize on the surface where you want the crystallization to occur.
One good thing to do with coarse salt is to use it to salt boiling water/any kind of soup or stock, because it will melt in the water and also you will not use a large amount of fine salt, so you’re not finishing fine salt too soon.
how i’ve made flakey salt out of coarse salt is add as much salt into water as i can, then boil it. but instead of boiling away the water i let it slowly evaporate. (very time consuming) but i think you’ll get double the amount you got.
Weirdly enough double boiler probably gets too hot, you want something with more surface area and less heat in, just like the set up alex had of a casserole dish on a metal sheet on induction on the lowest setting.
Try pouring the salt water solution onto a flat sheet pan. Make a very shallow pour. Let it air dry. As the water evaporates, you should be able to get flakes. We did this with Sea water in science class when I was in school.
Turn the heat on your double boiler down as the crystals begin to form. If you don’t, the crystals form too fast to develop the large flake you’re looking for and instead you get the finer stuff. That’s why you had some big flakes - it accumulated before the water temp continued to rise .
Using either a skimming or baking on flat trays method, it's definitely worth taking the larger 'sheets' and gently crushing them to make them into smaller flakes. The only thing you care about is that the layers of salt crystal you make are thin.
I tried this on my own! I saw how they gather salt and wanted to flavor mine. Instead of water I boiled it in broth and added some seasonings. It was flaky and tasted delish.
It forms differently as you lose water because 1: the rate of evaporation affects the form of the crystal, and 2: the concentration of salt to water is changing.
Dipping your spoon into the salty water triggered more to form, in chemistry we call it nucleation - so fat as I know it's fairly inevitable once you've disturbed the solution to pick out the crystals. It might work better if you let them all crystallise and then brake up the sheet? Not 100% sure tho
Could you just grind it a little bit to the texture you're looking for? Or is achieving flakey salt more complicated than that being that it's thinner flakey sheet like bits? I guess maybe grinding it would just make a more regular coarse grind salt? I'm legit asking not being a smart ass. 🤷🏼♀️
Just boil it normally till the salt dissolves and set it in small containers and leave near the window to evaporate, Don’t move them! And there you go flaky salt
You can just literally boil lots of salt water, put them in thin dishes like an inch thick, set them out in the sun to dry for a week. Instant flakey salt when you scrape it off. Do it every week
I'm pretty sure I've seen a less complicated method of making flaky salt. I feel like Alex's methods are quite often way more complicated and difficult than they need to be.
Flaky salt gives a certain texture to foods you’re sprinkling it on, and the structures are crystalline pyramids that are also hollow- while also being light and melts in your mouth Grinding it up would not give those things you want in flaky salt, and would really only be good when dissolving it in like a soup or brine etc
go to the most fancy market near you, the place where only the rich go buy stuff. There you will find it....'flaky sea salt"... more than 10 times more expensive than regular salt. The only diffence is it is crunchy, good to sprinkle over bread or pretzels or french fries.
(Taking the point from another commenter!!) The salt he has is like whole potatoes, and the flaky salt he made is like potato chips. Grinding the salt in a blender would give you something like finely diced potatoes or even mashed potatoes.
I think if you rinsed your skimmer with running water between each time you scoop out the big flakes, it will reduce the likelihood the smaller crystals will form.
Your salt solution is super-saturated, so after you skim off the big crystals, your skimmer is then essentially covered in microscopic crystals. So by reintroducing the "contaminated" skimmer, you're unintentionally seeding the solution and creating those little clusters.
It's sorta like when you're cooking sugar syrup to make hard candy. You have to wash down the sides of the pan with clear water now and then so the splatters don't crystalize and seed the cooking sugar.
I thought that he might’ve just had it a little too hot still, but that makes more sense.
Damn that’s a perfect way to explain it
Also a really good comparison
Ur smart
Building on this, look at the way he was agitating the solution when making that salt.
Hopper crystals/pyramid salt require boyancy to work. With those waves he was making, they probably sunk, agglomerated or got filled in
Crystal formation requires the cleanest of setups
Everyone saying "Just buy salt" did you watch the video? He literally has so much coarse sea salt and he's trying to turn it into flaky salt to use in food. The man does food experiments regularly, this isn't new.
Also flaky salt is super expensive, this is actually just cheaper.
@@MedievalSolutionsand less wasteful. he started the video explaining why it was difficult to use
Just buy salt
@@MedievalSolutionsI dunno about cheaper tbh, cos he has to use a decent amount of electricity or gas to heat the water enough to evaporate it off, and fuel is expensive af right now. The commercial salt manufacturers have the benefit of economics of scale, which he is lacking. Still, its an educational experiment, and all knowledge is good knowledge.
@@mr.robertdobalina9199 Just read
Small crystals result from fast crystallisation. Big crystals also need a starter or core called “Nuclei” which can be existing salt crystals as well es dust particles etc.
Youre such a nerd…and I love it!
Well said! I was about to say, I'd recommend placing a few chunky salt chunks to float atop. Even if they dissolve at the surface, it's still worth a try to let them be the nuclei for the bigger desired crystals. Either that, or wait longer for the crysals to form before fishing them out. Maybe lower the temp so they form slower?
Honestly, I think this is a really cool process that I never would have considered before. Thank you for sharing ALL of the awesome experiments and delicious things you do!
You wouldn’t consider it because it makes no sense to do. With how much labor and electricity needed to do this you’re better off buying salt, even if you already have a shit load.
labour of love
@@deleqtronica8733 It's inefficient and ineffective...
sun dried or freeze dried is the way to go...
For anyone who doesn't understand "why he didnt just grind it" Flakey, coarse, and fine salt have different textures. He has coarse salt, which are whole potatoes, he wants flakey salt, which are like chips, thin but large. If he crushed it up, they would be chopped potatoes smallbyt still dense. Hope that analogy works.
good comment
Yeah it does help, a lot
How would I make French fry-like salt? Asking for a friend
Still just tastes like salt
@@felixloewenich2202 ok
The method I’ve seen multiple times is you dissolve as much salt into water then put it in a shallow dish and leave it in a sunny place for several days. Then you break it up when it’s dry
Seems a lot cheaper than using an electric cooker.
@@Bebop_2962 takes much longer though
It got to hot and also crystals tend to need a starter or base. I'd sprinkle some fine salt in as your waiting on it to crystalize. The disolved salt will attach to the salt grains and grow crystals
By adding a seed crystal you are basically reversing the dissolving and creating even larger crystals he began with. Very little salt will crystallize on the surface where you want the crystallization to occur.
Too*
One good thing to do with coarse salt is to use it to salt boiling water/any kind of soup or stock, because it will melt in the water and also you will not use a large amount of fine salt, so you’re not finishing fine salt too soon.
My most favourite part of your videos is the comment sections! So many nerds that explained the process in more simple way. Thank you and love it!
as soon as i saw the title i thought of alex french guy! i really want to try it
how i’ve made flakey salt out of coarse salt is add as much salt into water as i can, then boil it. but instead of boiling away the water i let it slowly evaporate. (very time consuming) but i think you’ll get double the amount you got.
Weirdly enough double boiler probably gets too hot, you want something with more surface area and less heat in, just like the set up alex had of a casserole dish on a metal sheet on induction on the lowest setting.
Try pouring the salt water solution onto a flat sheet pan. Make a very shallow pour. Let it air dry. As the water evaporates, you should be able to get flakes.
We did this with Sea water in science class when I was in school.
Turn the heat on your double boiler down as the crystals begin to form. If you don’t, the crystals form too fast to develop the large flake you’re looking for and instead you get the finer stuff. That’s why you had some big flakes - it accumulated before the water temp continued to rise .
You could also dissolve water and salt and leave it by a window and then let the water evaporate. You’ll be left with salt at the bottom
Using either a skimming or baking on flat trays method, it's definitely worth taking the larger 'sheets' and gently crushing them to make them into smaller flakes. The only thing you care about is that the layers of salt crystal you make are thin.
Just add 50% salt to your water and then boil it down and pour it into a shallow pain. This is how you get true flakey salt
I tried this on my own! I saw how they gather salt and wanted to flavor mine. Instead of water I boiled it in broth and added some seasonings. It was flaky and tasted delish.
Cool! You do such great experiments!
saw this video too and immediately wanted to try it myself. Now I’m definitely gonna do it .
Thumbs up for the Alex reference... I've been wanting to try this one myself...
Buy a grinder and set it very coarse. Don't worry that it's not flaky, just that it is the right size.
I did this in chemistry class one time. It was so fun.
This is awesome! I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my jar of salt I think today I’m going to make my own flaky salt!
Those sheets are probably what some desire.
I’ll try it with regular salt and then pink salt to see what happens
You’ll end up with, wait for it.. salt! Surprising right?
I'm pretty sure its supposed to form sheets. The thin sheets break up and that's what makes the flakes.
Once you agitate the crystalline mix it will start forming at an accelerated rate it’s the same with sugar syrups or caramels
What about just putting the salt into a coffee grinder? I use mine for lots of dry stuff. Works great for herbs and even some seeds
It forms differently as you lose water because 1: the rate of evaporation affects the form of the crystal, and 2: the concentration of salt to water is changing.
JK can you have subtitles going along...people with hearing problem are having a tough time following you... including my Mil 🙂
Just put the salt into a high sided jug and hit it with your immersion blender? That's how you make finer sugar out normal chunky sugar too
Dipping your spoon into the salty water triggered more to form, in chemistry we call it nucleation - so fat as I know it's fairly inevitable once you've disturbed the solution to pick out the crystals.
It might work better if you let them all crystallise and then brake up the sheet? Not 100% sure tho
Put it in a food processor and chop it into smaller pieces. That's how I made fine powdered salt for popcord.
Could you just grind it a little bit to the texture you're looking for? Or is achieving flakey salt more complicated than that being that it's thinner flakey sheet like bits? I guess maybe grinding it would just make a more regular coarse grind salt? I'm legit asking not being a smart ass. 🤷🏼♀️
Flakey salt is basically hollow crystals. Its large but crunchy, like a chip vs a cracker
I think the fast cristalization makes the cristals unstable and don't have the time to form big cristals.
Just boil it normally till the salt dissolves and set it in small containers and leave near the window to evaporate, Don’t move them! And there you go flaky salt
I love Alex The French Guy
They make salt grinders similar to pepper grinders.
You can just literally boil lots of salt water, put them in thin dishes like an inch thick, set them out in the sun to dry for a week. Instant flakey salt when you scrape it off. Do it every week
Alex makes great videos!
Would it be more efficient to put it in a pestle & mortar?
You cant make flakeu salt by grinding. Its thin crystals
"Salt" counter: 11
Yep, are thinner crystals than regular flakey salt with this making way
JESSE JESSE WE NEED TO COOK
Put the course salt in a pepper grinder. Viola!
A nice instrument indeed.
Man is doing chemistry experiments
You need to cool rapidly if you want finer crystals
got some breaking bad shit going on here
Read Mark Kurlansky's Salt, Cod, and The Basque History of the World.
I'm pretty sure I've seen a less complicated method of making flaky salt. I feel like Alex's methods are quite often way more complicated and difficult than they need to be.
...I am having some ideas right now.......... now I have to try them out of engineer's curiosity....
how to make salt:
step one: salt
"how to make expensive crunchy flaky salt from hard course salt"
you can just buy that kind of salt. it is called Pyramide salt. Not even that expensive
If you ever think “why is chemistry important?” Remember cooking is the chemistry you can eat. So just learn it.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just use a pestle and mortar? Or is there a reason you have to go through this process?
What happened is that you generated nucleation sites when you put the skimmer in. You have to let it go on its own to make more of the falt crystals
Honestly just leaving it in a shallow pan (like a baking ban or something) by a warm window for a day or 2 should work to give you big crystals.
I've seen large pyramid ones formed that way, no idea how consistent the size would be though.
A mortar or spice grinder would not get this done?
Whom of you remembered crystallisation
I have that apple bowl no way!! I’ve never seen another one of it
Wow I didn't know we could do that..
Anyone else having to drug flashbacks? Lol
What kind of drugs? Just curious. Recovered addict here.
@@liviloo87 sugar
Pretty much all of them lbvs. Opiates, cocaine, meth, alcohol.... Everything. And I'm 19 months sober. So that's cool
@@courtneylucas508
That is way more than cool my girl, it’s downright amazing. I’m proud of you, and so is Heavenly Father.
For the efford and energy cost you could instead buy the finest imported "Fleur de Sel" from France
I honestly prefer slightly more coarse salt, gives a lil something idk
Wow! That’s interesting!
This is so cool
Can you use the same process with table salt?
Sure it will work just fine
congratz you've made crack
bro, who made this process?
just dry out saltwater on a baking tray
like how sea salt is traditionally made
I love alex
Not an expert in crystallization here. Try grinding some of the cristals into tiny particles and use them as nuclei in your next batch.
Mortar and pestle!
With the energy prices today… no way
Why put it through the coffee filter? Does it help form new structure? If so, how?
To remove any impurities in the water
is the coffee filter really necessary? anyone tried yet?
fleur de sel
To save time and effort I would have thrown it on my icy sidewalks / driveway. Then it’s not wasted money lol
If your salt is iodized would this remove the iodine from it?
eat some fish once in a while and don't worry about it.
What makes it “Korean sea salt”
If I made it would it be illegal Guatemalan sea salt?
Why not crush it?
It’s called a blender
you trying for finer salt, wouldn't it be easier to use a and mortise and pestle?
He want "flaky" not crush
Also mortar not mortise
Table salt is crushed rock salt
I just throw my chunky salt in a grinder
Is the time effort and even electricity worth it
First google result says I can buy a kilogram of flaky sea salt for 25 pounds.
search "fleur de sel"
So a blender is a bad option
Mortar and pestle
Well I know if you use baking soda boiling water and some cocaine... you end up with rocks. 😂
couldn't you just blend it a bit?
Crazy question why not just throw it in the salt grinder?
Flaky salt gives a certain texture to foods you’re sprinkling it on, and the structures are crystalline pyramids that are also hollow- while also being light and melts in your mouth
Grinding it up would not give those things you want in flaky salt, and would really only be good when dissolving it in like a soup or brine etc
I literally use my old pepper grinders
grind it
There's something called a mortar if you didn't know. That's how some people that harvested sea salt, turn it into fine salt.
But he's not trying to make fine salt...
All these comments about "what's leftover steak?" It's called portion control???
Why not just grind it?
What he has are basically rocks, what he wants are hollow rocks. If he grind it they'll still be solid just smaller
Morter and pestel
Lol I thought that was rice lol
I know we could just buy salt, but I've never seen flaky salt anywhere
go to the most fancy market near you, the place where only the rich go buy stuff. There you will find it....'flaky sea salt"... more than 10 times more expensive than regular salt. The only diffence is it is crunchy, good to sprinkle over bread or pretzels or french fries.
Just hand grind them the desired size 🤲
Why not just grind in it or put in a blender?
(Taking the point from another commenter!!) The salt he has is like whole potatoes, and the flaky salt he made is like potato chips. Grinding the salt in a blender would give you something like finely diced potatoes or even mashed potatoes.
That’s essentially how you cook up liquid ketamine. Don’t ask me how I know that. I was young once.🤦🏼♀️
Yay Alex!!!